Community Health Care

The Community Health elective goals are two-fold: develop fourth year students as preceptors in the medical educator role and develop socially accountable healthcare providers to function effectively in low-resource settings in a socially minded, culturally competent, and cost-conscious manner. The elective serves to provide students with further exposure to community health organizations, models of FQHCs, and social services that make up the urban health safety net. Additionally, the elective is designed to facilitate in the transition between MS4 and intern year by increasing responsibility, medical assessment and plan development, and coordination and continuity of patient care. Students will complete 12 clinical sessions at the GW Healing Bridge to Care Clinic in Prince George's County. Students will take on the role of the primary care physician for the patients they see in clinic, and will be responsible for patient follow up and care coordination. Additionally, students will be responsible for completing 2 case reports, 1 teaching rounds, and workshops and site visits during the March month.

Course Learning Objectives:

By the end of this course, the student should be able to:

1. Demonstrate ability to act as a clinical preceptor/peer educator.
2. Practice complex primary care of patients in a cost-conscious manner.
3. Recognize the importance of social determinants of health, social justice, cultural competence, and institutional racism in health outcomes and health disparities.
4. Recognize distinct care delivery models that form the urban safety net in the DC metropolitan area.